Benzema was suspended from national team duty by the French Football Federation (FFF) in December pending the outcome of a legal investigation into an alleged plot to blackmail fellow international Mathieu Valbuena.

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Prime minister Valls stressed in March that the Madrid attacker did not deserve to represent France so long as the Valbuena case was ongoing, also criticising Benzema for being a bad example, and the player's representative, Eric Dupont-Moretti, believes those comments played a big role in the final decision.